


you’re no lover

by orphan_account



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, if u squint eddie’s just Annoyed, stenbrough if you squint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 14:14:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21303431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: just a sweet reddie fic that I’ll probably drag on for 20 chapters :,) they r gay disasters that’s all i’m gonna say. read the notes before proceeding!!
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 6





	you’re no lover

**Author's Note:**

> hello! first and foremost, there will probably be homophobic slurs here and there used lightly throughout the fic, so thats a warning. also, this isn’t set in derry, i know nothing about maine or the east coast so i decided to set it in a northern californian town i used to live in right on the coast. A very conservative catholic town, i have to mention. this is also my first fic i’ve written in probably over a year, so hopefully as the chapters go on the writing improves. enjoy :,)!

“Seriously?” 

It was the fourth of July, but the weather stayed inconveniently cloudy and breezy. There weren’t many places to go on holidays- most people went out of town, which was a smart decision. This place was a hell hole. Some people went down to the beach, which was the worse of the two options. Which is what Eddie’s family decided to do. Well, Eddie and his mom. The sand was wet and hard under his feet and he swore it was going to start thundering soon. His mother had a soft spot for holidays, so it was really the only time he got to go to the beach without repercussions. Any other time it was all ‘_Oh, Eddie-Bear, there’s broken glass all over the place, we can’t go,’_ or the classic ‘_Edward, there’s too many species of venomous fish and bugs at the beach, too much of a risk_.’ 

But, tonight, he could be wrapped up in 3 blankets, a coat, and mittens, and watch fireworks from a few towns over once the sun went down. But this tall ass rat fucker ruined Eddie’s peace with his stupid firecracker. The closest place you could buy any fireworks was down south, in the big city, and this asshole just had to come to this exact beach and blow off some repressed anger with firecrackers. 

“Well, no, I’m not very serious about firecrackers.” The boy gave Eddie a toothy smile and held out a crooked hand. 

“What? You want to have a formal greeting after you nearly exploded my leg?!” 

Eddie scooted back a few inches, looking up at the ledge that shadowed the beach. He hoped his mom would come back with the water bottles soon and tell the dirty boy to go away. He had sand on his hands and on his knees, like, at least rinse your hands in the saltwater before trying to touch anybody else. 

“Chill, man, it was one firecracker. It wasn’t even that close to you. What’s a pretty little thang like you doin’ all alone anyway?” He nudged Eddie’s arm with his elbow, plopping down next to him on the driftwood he had been so peacefully sitting on before. 

“I’m not alone.” Eddie’s eyes glanced up again, starting to bob his leg up and down. The dirty firecracker boy looked to be about his age, maybe even a year or so older. He couldn’t mean any real harm, or do any real harm, he was pretty lanky. He was taller, though, which greatly intimidated Eddie. 

“Oh, that’s right, I’m here with you. Since you denied my handshake, I guess— wait.” The boy contorted his eyebrows and started to giggle. Eddie sighed at this. There was only one middle school in their town, so they were bound to cross paths at one point or another, but damn this guy was getting on Eddie’s nerves. If it weren’t for Eddie’s table manners, he would’ve told firecracker boy to leave already. 

“You’re that Kaspbrak kid. The one who, uh-“ The boy shifted in his seat, facing away from Eddie. He felt his stomach lurch. Is that really who he would be known as? “I’m Richie. We go to the same school.” No shit. Eddie sighed and looked Richie in the eyes. His eyebrows were sandy too, what the hell kind of trouble was this Richie kid getting into? 

“Where are your parents?” The fireworks hadn’t started yet, so maybe Richie’s parents were getting some last-minute snacks from the market. It was only a 20-minute bike ride, so they would probably be back when the show began. 

“I’m here with my good ol’ friends, Big Bill and Stan the Man.” Richie pointed to two boys who were shivering right along the shore wrapping themselves in their own colorful beach towels. How did Eddie not recognize either of them? There were no more than 7,000 people in their city, most of them being druggies anyway, so it made Eddie’s heart sink every time he saw somebody he didn’t know. 

Eddie opened his mouth to talk, but he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

“Eddie-Bear! I’m back with refreshments.” Eddie’s mom glared at Richie as she handed the smaller boy a water bottle. “Who’s this? A new friend?”

“No, mommy, it’s just someone from school.” Eddie made a shooing gesture with his hand, prompting Richie to stand up. 

“Well, see you tomorrow.” Richie shrugged as he said it and awkwardly walked back to Stanley and Bill.

“See you.” Eddie uselessly waved and looked back down at the said beneath him. He wishes he lived further south, so that the sand was soft, and blazed on sunny days. 

He reached into his backpack to get a blanket, which was about twice his size, striped blue and grey. He placed it out against the ground and lay back onto it. If he had headphones, he would definitely be blasting some trashy 90s pop into his freckled ears. His mother said that headphones would make him go deaf, though. He wondered if Richie’s mom ever said anything like that. He imagined Richie listened to Nirvana or some other edgy band. 

“Don’t fall asleep before the fireworks start, my boy.” Eddie fluttered his eyes open to the sound of his mom’s voice. He hadn’t even realized they had shut. 

“Sorry.” He closed his eyes again, feeling his mom caress the side of his face. 

The next morning, Richie woke up, rolled over and hit somebody right in the face with his hand. 

“Ugh. You kick in your sleep, you know that?” Stanley sat up and leaned his back against the wall. 

“Yeah, and your floor is..lumpy and c-c-cold.” Bill piped in, already sitting in Richie’s bean bag chair. “I can s-see why you never have s-s-sleepovers here.” 

“Yeah, Rich, you really need to get an air mattress before we ever sleep over again. I don’t think I slept more than 4 hours last night.” Beverly was still sitting on the floor, but with a pillow underneath her. She was mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, and her eyes were clearly glued to the screen. 

“What time is it? Should I get dressed soon, I mean?” Richie reached for his phone in the crack between his bed and the wall, to no avail. He felt a twinge of guilt for making his friends stay the night on a school night, but remembered Stan was the only one who actually gave a damn. 

“You missed your bus, but you do have a bike... it’s like, a half-hour until the first bell rings, you’ll be fine. We can go get some Dutch Bros., though.” Beverly slipped out her 10-times-stamped Dutch Bros. card and held it up for the boys to enamor. 

Richie’s eyes lit up at the thought. “Move, Stanley Manley, I need to get to my dirty laundry.” Stanley simply muttered a ‘gross’ and stepped out of Richie’s bed. Richie went to his drawer and picked out a way too neon bomber jacket to compliment his graphic tee and simple blue jeans with high-top converse. 

“S-s-shit, sorry guys, I need to drop by the school library b-b-before the b-bell rings. It s-slipped my mind.” Bill threw on one of Richie’s bearable tees, as if Richie would care, and started to put on his shoes. 

“I’ll come with. I’m dying to get out of this dump Richie calls a room.” Stan followed Bill out of the room, leaving Beverly and Richie to their own devices. 

“Hey!” Richie followed Stan out to the hall to give him a firm bonk on the head. He laughed to himself, giddy that he got the last word in. 

“Richie.” Beverly had Richie’s phone in her hand now, smirking at what she saw on the screen. 

“Hm, Bev? Find some of my spicy nude pics?” Richie struck a pose. He didn’t take any pictures like that, but he did have some embarrassing selfies he could probably explain by saying they were jokes. 

“Is this Eddie Kaspbrak? On the beach last night?” She flipped the phone over, showing a picture taken by Richie from afar. It was of Eddie looking up at the fireworks late into the night. He had actually fallen asleep— Richie assumed — for like 2 hours, but woke up in the middle of the firework show. He just looked so perfect for a candid picture. 

“Is it? I just took a picture of whatever looked, y’know, cool for a photo. ‘Was gonna show my photography teacher.” Richie leaned in closer to his phone as if he hadn’t actually looked at the picture after taking it. 

“Richie..” Beverly looked at Richie with uncertain eyes. She put the phone face down on the floor and met his eyes. “Do you, like-like him?” 

Richie froze, blurting what first came to mind. “I’m no fairy, Bev.” He grabbed his glasses from his dresser. “How could you even accuse me of that?” His eyes began to burn. He was already an atheist, which declared him an outcast, but gay? No way in hell he could manage being gay and an atheist. He’d get kicked out of town! 

“It’d be fine if you were, though. You could tell me. Or Stan, or Bill. I wouldn’t tell anybody.” She held Richie’s hand, which made him flinch. She smiled weakly and stood up. “Guess we better get going if we wanna be on time.” 

Richie nodded, grabbed his backpack, and headed out the door. 

Eddie leaned his head on the library table. His mother had to bring him to school dreadfully early since she started work in the morning, so he was stuck sitting in the quiet school library with one of the staff members for like, an hour. There was a digital clock by the door, so it helped since he wasn’t allowed to take out his phone. The activities the staff did plan were solving puzzles, coloring books, reading, you know, things that only elementary kids do. 

Some mornings Ben would be there, some mornings Mike would. It helped that both of Eddie’s friends were bookworms, so they could eat in a quiet place at lunch, or actually study after school. Sometimes it got boring, though. Not that Eddie wanted to be reckless and ambitious, but having friends that were reckless sounded.. fun, almost. His mom would flip her shit, though, so Eddie decided against trying to make friends with those kids. 

“I s-s-swear, if Beverly doesn’t g-get me at least a s-small coffee, she’s getting a rant out of me.” Bill strolled into the library with Stanley, holding a loose book bag. 

“I thought you didn’t like Dutch Bros?” Stanley sat down at one of the round tables, out of view from Eddie, but not out of earshot. Eddie was sure they hadn’t even noticed somebody else was in the library. 

“I’d s-still appreciate the th-thought.” Bill chuckled lightly, leaving Stanley alone at the table and walking over to the front desk. 

“I’m here to p-p-pay my overdue b-book fee. Online, it said it was nine dollars.” 

Jesus! That’s 6 days keeping a book. Just return it, how good could the book even be? 

“Mhm. You would be correct, Mr. Denbrough. You have a sufficient balance in your student account, would you like me to scan your ID?” The teacher standing behind the front desk was clicking around on the aged computer, clearly already annoyed with the number of kids going in and out. 

“Th-thanks. That would be f-f-fine.” Bill took his ID off of his lanyard and held it out to the teacher. Meanwhile, Eddie guided his attention towards the clock. He wanted to get to first hour already, just so he would be one hour closer to lunch. 

“Hey, mis amigos!” Richie barged into the library a bit too loudly with an iced coffee in hand and a terrible Mexican accent. A girl, a little bit shorter than him, walked in right next to him. She was pretty, kind of like a porcelain doll. Then it clicked. That was Beverly Marsh! Richie was that kind of dude, huh? 

Then Eddie thought he shouldn’t listen to rumors, especially he should know. It made him uncomfortable seeing the four all smile, or groan, at each other and have undeniable chemistry. Anybody could tell they had an unbreakable bond. Eddie felt like a fly on the wall. Richie glanced over to him and he got shivers up his spine. Eddie looked back down at the wooden table, desperately trying to avoid attention. Then he realized the AC had been turned on by some bird-brain. Eddie really shouldn’t have worn shorts this short today. Most days, he would wear some jeans or khaki shorts, but today he decided with comfortable shorts. It was logical, the weatherman said the area wasn’t expecting a storm. 

“Eduardo! My best friend!” Richie walked over to Eddie and sat down on the chair that was uncomfortably close to him. 

“That’s not my name, and we’re not friends yet.” That came out much harsher than Eddie had intended, but it was true. It wasn’t his name, and they weren’t friends. They had one conversation and Eddie hated every second of it. 

“Oh.” Richie’s face fell but seemed to spark right back up. “Yet?” He sniggered, wrapping an arm around Eddie. “Oh, Eds, we’re gonna be the bestest of friends! Go on rollercoasters together, make friendship bracelets-“ 

“Sheesh, you’re annoying.” A smile tugged at the smaller boy’s face as he pushed Richie away from him. Laughter incited in the rest of the kids, and for some reason, Eddie couldn’t take his eyes off of this stupid boy. He was gangly and tall and handsome, for the boys in their town. Most of the guys who lived there looked like straight-up hobos.

“Isn’t it charming?” Richie took a sip from his coffee and leaned closer to Eddie. Gross, he smelled like coffee.. of course. Eddie scrunched up his nose and pushed his head away from Richie’s. 

“No.” Eddie stifled his laughter, looked at the clock and gathered up his belongings. “Full offense.” This conversation wasn’t as bad as their last one, but Eddie still didn’t.. enjoy it. He practically sprinted out of the library to head to his first class before the halls filled up, ignoring any goodbyes that may have or may not have been spoken.

**Author's Note:**

> hiii hiii i do love love love love and appreciate kudos and comments very much so feel free to leave some if u weren’t repulsed by this :,)<3


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